The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted equipment control apparatus, a control method, a program thereof, and a recording medium thereof, for controlling a display of image or an operation of the equipment when a vehicle is running.
The present application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-093135, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
A vehicle-mounted equipment, having an image display unit and an operation unit, such as a television set or a navigation device mounted on a vehicle is provided with a control apparatus which regulates an image display or a part of operation of the equipment when a vehicle is running in order to ensure a safe driving. In other words, the image display and the operation of the television set or the operation of the navigation device are enabled only when the vehicle is at a standstill.
In conventional control apparatuses for vehicle-mounted equipments, there is a type of control apparatus which detects whether a vehicle is running or at a standstill through detecting only an ON/OFF state of a parking brake (so-called “side brake”).
In this type of apparatus, when a detection line for detecting the ON/OFF state of the parking brake is connected to a vehicle body ground by a remodeling of vehicle, it is determined that the vehicle is always at a standstill, i.e., as parking-brake ON even if the vehicle is running. In other words, there occurs any problem that in spite of under the state of driving the vehicle the television picture is displayed, and the regulation of operation is removed.
Then, in order to resolve the above problems, the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-172195 discloses the following control apparatus for a vehicle-mounted image display system.
The vehicle-mounted image display system is first activated when an accessory power switch (ACC switch) of a vehicle is turned ON, and then operations in steps 104-113 as shown in FIG. 2 of the above publication, i.e., the determination as to whether the respective ON/OFF operations of parking brake and foot brake is continued in predetermined sequence, are carried out when the vehicle is at a standstill. In other words, when the detection line is determined to be not connected with the vehicle body ground, but adequately connected, based on a result of the above determination, the image display is allowed or the regulation of operation is removed at steps S114, S115.
More specifically, after the determination that the detection line is adequately connected was made, the display of television picture or the operation of equipments are enabled under the determination that the vehicle is at a standstill when the parking brake is under the ON state at step S117, while the display of picture or the operation of equipments are regulated under the determination that the vehicle is running when the parking brake is under the OFF state at step S118.
Moreover, the vehicle-mounted image display system as disclosed in the above publication requests users such as drivers to perform the respective ON/OFF operations of parking brake and foot brake in the predetermined sequence to confirm whether the detection line of the parking brake is adequately connected, in order to prevent the regulation of television picture display or operation from being removed during the running state of vehicle. That is, it is a countermeasure against the case that the detection line for detecting any state of vehicle where the vehicle is running or at a standstill is illegally remodeled. After confirming that the detection line is adequately connected, the control apparatus detects whether the vehicle is running or at a standstill based on detection signals on the detection lines. As a result, a regulation of display or a release of the regulation is performed in accordance with the running or at a standstill state.
In this conventional image display system mounted on the vehicle, there is a problem of bothersome operation since a user have to make the ON/OFF operation of the parking brake and the foot brake in the predetermined sequence always when the vehicle-mounted image display system is activated for displaying the image after an accessory power switch is turned ON.
In addition, the user has to release the parking brake (Power-OFF operation) once even when the vehicle is at a standstill in order to view the image display of the vehicle-mounted image display system. The release of the parking brake during the vehicle's stop may reduce safety of the vehicle.
Further, since there is a necessity of providing the detection line for detecting the ON/OFF state of the foot brake in this conventional apparatus, any additional cost for manufacturing and mounting the detection line occurs.